'Everything I hold dear is being challenged - my religion, my culture, my lifestyle'

“I'd better warn you in advance,” cautions Pat O’Donnell when he answers the knock on his front door. “I’m very opinionated.” 

That door is the gateway to an elegant period home, snugly nestled near the village of Herbertstown in the plush meadows of south-east Limerick. This is a lively workplace.

There are horseboxes and gallops for thoroughbreds and hunters, cattle in the fields and paddocks for the sport horses for his wife Una’s equestrian business. Only the dogs and cats seem uninterested and pay little attention to visitors, preferring instead to chill out by colourful flower beds at their autumnal best.